Elections

2014

Senate

Elections for the office of Maine State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 10, 2014, and a general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature-filing deadline for party candidates wishing to run in this election was March 17, 2014. The deadline for write-in candidates to run in the primary election was April 28, 2014, and the deadline for non-party candidates to run in the general election was June 2, 2014. Catherine Breen defeated Stephen Woods in the Democratic primary. William Gardiner was unopposed in the Republican primary but withdrew afterwards; Cathy Manchester was selected as his replacement. Breen defeated Manchester in the general election. Manchester requested a recount, which reversed the outcome of the race, with Manchester at 10,927 votes and Breen at 10,916. Breen did not agree with result, leaving the issue to be decided by the Senate with the advice of a committee appointed by the Senate President. Due to the election night results, Breen was still recognized as the district's senator-elect by the Maine Secretary of State and was expected to be seated when the chamber met on December 3. However, the Senate voted 20-14, along party lines, to seat Manchester. On December 9, the committee's investigation revealed that 21 ballots for Manchester were counted twice in the recount, refuting what had been seen as 21 extra "phantom ballots" for Manchester appearing from the town of Long Island. Manchester promptly resigned following the discovery; although Breen is now recognized as senator-elect, the Senate is still tasked with voting on a winner when it convenes in January.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]